


VORKOSIGAN VASHNOI IS GOING GREEN

by Zoya1416



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Radiation disaster, Recovery, Terraforming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 03:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya1416/pseuds/Zoya1416
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>EKATERIN DOESN'T WANT A NEW PROJECT. HER GRANDDAUGHTER BRINGS HER ONE.</p><p>Set very long after Cryoburn. Spoilers through there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	VORKOSIGAN VASHNOI IS GOING GREEN

**Author's Note:**

> MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH 2ND WARNING
> 
> All characters belong to Lois McMaster Bujold. I am only borrowing them.

 

Ekaterin's world was gray everyday. She wore her mourning clothes, and they began to hang on her as she ate less and less. She'd always been pale, and now she was ghostly. She had very few responsibilities now—the children were grown, the grandchildren were growing up, she didn't have to take any more landscaping projects unless she wanted to, and she wanted to do so little. She couldn't even be angry anymore about the Cetagandan poison which had ruined Miles' smallest blood vessels. Even sitting in a chair looking out took a lot of effort, so she didn't get out of bed some days. He wasn't here. Even his grave wasn't here, it was up at Vorkosigan Surleau with the rest of the family. She often wished she could join him.  
Six months into her grief, her most forthright daughter marched in.  
Helen said, “You don't have the right to ruin everyone else's life!” When Ekaterin opened her mouth to respond, Helen rode over her. “It's not fair to the grandchildren! It's not fair to my brothers and sister! And it's not fair to Da!” Ekaterin looked at Helen and for a second regretted that she had never spanked her children.  
“Look, I know he was the light of your life, and we all loved him, but you don't have to shut yourself off from us. It's like we lost our Ma, too!” Her lips trembled and her voice cracked. “Please, please come back.” Then she settled down.

“Natasha has an idea you might like.”

Shy Natasha had spread out some papers on the morning room table. They had pastries, alas, not Ma Kosti's, and some fragrant coffee.  
“Grandmother, I think we might be able to do something with Vorkosigan Vashnoi.”

Ekaterin bit back a response that it was dead, too, and she might as well be there- Natasha was only fourteen but already a prodigy, almost as tall as Ekaterin, and and was studying her grandmother's work.  
“I think the radioactivity has dropped enough to start test plots.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, and Dad and I went out with one of the nuclear medicine guys from Hassadar and flew over, measuring the levels. It's safe to work in for short periods.”  
“I'm not having my granddaughter working in a radioactive hot zone.”

“It was almost a hundred years ago. Look, we took these pictures and the flora is coming back!”

It was true. Vorkosigan Vashnoi was not a smooth bowl of glass anymore. It had cracked and wrinkled in many places, and in every crack there was the orange-red of native Barrayaran plant life. Ekaterin caught her breath. She loved the Barrayaran plants, to the disdain of almost anyone else. 

In three months she had a plan in place. The site was still pretty hot at the center, but the edges had dropped. Ekaterin had sweated out her grant proposal, and the research departments of Hassadar University, had, with a little family money from MPVK Enterprises, provided seed money. It was going to involve greenhouses. And radiation suits. Dosimeters would be more important than water placement. More greenhouses.

Ekaterin's mind was fired again. There was so much to do, to learn.The first data, of course, was to determine what biota the site already had. Ekaterin was surprised that an ecosystem of radiation-hardy bacteria, protozoa, and worms, (WORMS!) along with a few fringes of lichen, had developed. The question here was— to breed in earth flora, or allow the Barrayaran to survive, and the answer here, as all over the planet, was to import the Earth one.

She laid out a strict schedule for the workers to avoid exposure, and cut anyone under twenty's schedule to half of that. Natasha tried to protest, and was ruthlessly denied. She silently smiled, though. Her grandmother got bossy about her projects, and it was good to see her determination coming back. Ekaterin was fanatical about their dosimeters and had her students spend hours recording them. Then she critically analyzed their findings, changing shielding in this side or that, limiting exposures in just these areas, always thinking of the safety of her staff.

Several students would obtain their doctorates out of those greenhouses.  


Radiation exposure standards in both inner system and jump ships throughout the Nexus would change because of the finely detailed observations she would make. She would save many lives by these investigations.

A couple of years later, when MPVK developed the next generation of radiation-protective suits which were light, better fitting, and protected against biological and chemical, as well as radioactive weapons, ImpMil sat up.

In a few more years, the spacecraft industry became interested in Ekaterin's studies. Space ships were shielded as much as possible, although background radiation was higher than was desired. She had developed hardy radiation-absorbing plants. You couldn't get rid of radiation particles, you had to wait until their natural decay. But you could move them around. If you could absorb them into plants, and then harvest the plants and cast them out into space--

Vorkosigan Vashnoi had insects again! And the earth lichen they'd planted was taking hold, slower than usual, but continuing to inch along. They had plants which protected their seeds by giving them extra strong coats. Sunflowers would grow here. And soy.And although they couldn't be eaten yet, they could be composted against the day when the radiation was down. And gene splicing from the radiation-resistant plants to others.You might never get foodstuffs from Vorkosigan Vashnoi, but what about industrial plant proteins? Could you get bonsaid mulberry trees and spin silk--

In fifteen years, Emperor Gregor would give her the highest civilian award of the Empire, for service in reclaiming devastated lands. 

Twenty years later, Natasha carefully escorted Ekaterin out of the lightflier. The air on Vorkosigan Vashnoi was sweet now. The radiation resistant clover was spreading, following the lichen. Bees buzzed around the nectar—guaranteed to be 100% radiation-free because the radiation was fixed to the stalks and roots—and the nectar was the most sought after for honey. MPVK paid top dollar for it; Mark's wealth now increasing from two insect lines.

And Dowager Countess Ekaterin Vorvayne Vorkosigan had endowed an entire new biology building at Hassadar. Ekaterin embraced her granddaughter and whispered in her ear. “Thank you. For so much. For the new project. For making me alive again.” Natasha hugged her grandmother while the bees buzzed on.


End file.
